page_title: Cephalic index
section_title: Early anthropology
hierarchical_section_title: Cephalic index / Historic use in anthropology / Early anthropology
caption_attribution_description: English: Cephalic indexes of skull shapes. Long skull (left) - cephalic index 71.4; tall skull (center) - cephalic index 81; broad skull (right) - cephalic index 85.
context_page_description: The cephalic index or cranial index is the ratio of the maximum width of the head of an organism multiplied by 100 divided by its maximum length. The index is also used to categorize animals, especially dogs and cats.
context_section_description: The cephalic index was widely used by anthropologists in the early 20th century to categorize human populations. It is now mainly used to describe individuals' appearances and for estimating the age of fetuses for legal and obstetrical reasons.
  The cephalic index was defined by Swedish professor of anatomy Anders Retzius (1796–1860) and first used in physical anthropology to classify ancient human remains found in Europe. The theory became closely associated with the development of racial anthropology in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when prehistorians attempted to use ancient remains to model population movements in terms of racial categories. Carleton S. Coon also used the index in the 1960s.
  Humans are characterized by having either a dolichocephalic (long-headed), mesaticephalic (moderate-headed), or brachycephalic (short-headed) cephalic index or cranial index.
caption: Cephalic indexes of skull shapes. Long skull (left) – cephalic index 71.4; tall skull (center) – cephalic index 81; broad skull (right) – cephalic index 85
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